South Carolina Is Considering Introducing Execution By Firing Squad

South Carolina, USA, is considering introducing firing squads as an execution option due to a shortage of the drug needed to carry out lethal injections.

The Senate proposal was approved on Thursday by the House Criminal Laws subcommittee and would also change the state's default execution method to the electric chair.

The proposal comes after prison officials advised that they do not have the drugs to carry out lethal injections, and didn't know when they would be able to acquire them.

PA

There are currently 29 prisoners on death row in South Carolina, but there have been no executions since 2011.

The proposal is now being considered and a decision is expected next month.

Republican state senator Greg Hembree, said earlier this year that drug companies would not sell the state the chemicals they require to carry out lethal injections due to fears of legal challenges. According to The State, he said inmates should be given a choice of execution method.

He said: "Inmates would have the absolute right to choose their method of execution among the two (electrocution or a firing squad), if lethal injection is not available."

Democratic state senator Brad Hutto said the firing squad option would be 'effective'.

He said: "It should be effective and fast and do the job, and that's the problem with the electric chair."

PA

The use of firing squads is already permitted in Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah when lethal injections aren't available.

There were 690 executions across 20 countries last year, according to Amnesty International - 25 of which were in the US.

In the US, most people are executed via lethal injection or the electric chair.

Hanging is used in Afghanistan, Botswana, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Pakistan, Singapore, South Sudan and Sudan, while convicts are shot in Belarus, China, North Korea, Somalia, Taiwan and Yemen.

On Tuesday, a man in Saudi Arabia was executed and crucified. He was one of 37 people executed on charges of terrorism. Executions are normally carried out in the country by beheading.

Earlier this month, Brunei introduced new laws whereby people convicted of having gay sex could be stoned to death. The punishment was condemned across the globe.

Phil Robertson, the Asia deputy director for Human Rights Watch, said: "This kind of law doesn't belong in the 21st century. It's going to be something that will turn Brunei into a human rights pariah."

The death penalty has been abolished by 142 countries, according to the UN.

Topics: US News, crime

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey